Given its global dominance as a fashion brand, it came as no surprise that Osklen’s runway show to unveil its Autumn/Winter 2013 collection was chosen to open the latest edition of São Paulo Fashion Week. With a significant financial global turnover and with a large number of established designers, this is undoubtedly the most significant fashion week in Central and South America, and probably the fifth most influential in the world. Under the creative direction of Oskar Metsavaht, Osklen has, over the last few years, embodied the unstoppable and emerging dominance of Brazilian fashion, and its latest collection confirms that this is a brand that the world should watch.
Shown in the warehouse space of art gallery Zipper, in the affluent neighbourhood of Jardins (to a small group of only 60 journalists and buyers that included The Style Examiner) the collection was titled ‘Into the Mountains’ and comprised 18 looks for men and women structured in three blocks of six looks each. The inspiration came from the attire of skiers and snowboarders and from mixing the sophistication of Aspen in the 1960s and the rusticity of the Patagonia. Silhouettes were fitted while occasionally playing with the notion of layering, and asymmetrical lines and backless tops added elegant touches.
The colour palette evoked alpine imagery and cold weathers, with black, off-white, carmine, alpaca and gold featuring prominently. Fabrics included Italian wool, alpaca, sheep skin, chamois, bovine leather, neoprene, cotton jacquard, mohair and rustic handmade silk loom, and featured prints depicting the landscapes of Patagonia and Aspen, tartan, and black and white lions, pines, and snow crystals.
